Best Thank You Ever
by A Slayer In The TARDIS
Summary: [Nice? That's it? I spent hours cleaning and dusting and feng shuiing furniture that wasn't even mine and all I get is it's nice!] ...Cordelia rearranges Angel's office. Slight CordyAngel. Post 'Are You Now or Have You Ever Been'


**Best Thank You Ever**

**by Armageddon Bride**

"...so I was thinking we needed some new furniture! You know, of the _non_-grimy variety," Cordelia went on in her usual chipper tone. "I mean who'd want to use chairs and desks from the fifties? Isn't this place creepy enough as it is?"

"But we didn't change everything," Wesley cut in a slightly more nervous tone. "We left the couch in the lobby."

Cordy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah...that dusty, old gray couch."

There the three stood outside the Hyperion as Cordelia and Wesley blocked Angel's path to the entrance of the hotel.

Angel's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with the couch?"

"C'mon! It's all..._blah _and _dreary _and..." She paused and stared at her boss. "..._you_."

Angel gave the two a flat look before walking around them as they followed in toe. Pushing open the double doors, he walked down the steps and stopped to look around. "It looks exactly the same."

"_Of course_ it looks exactly the same. All that was in here was the damn couch!" Cordy grabbed Angel's wrist and dragged him towards his office while Wesley followed. She turned the doorknob and pushed open the door dramatically. "Ta da!"

The vampire stood in the threshold and glanced at the room once-over. New polished desks, swivel chairs, office lamps, the works. He blinked. "It's...nice."

"_Nice_? That's it? I spent hours _cleaning _and _dusting _and _feng shui-ing_ furniture that wasn't even mine and all I get is '_it's nice_'?!" she shouted causing the boys to shrink back a bit.

"Feng whatting?" Angel asked.

Cordelia folded her arms and glared.

"It's..." He thought for a moment. "...really nice?"

"You know what? I give up!" Cordy threw up her hands and stomped out of the office.

"Thanks," Angel called over his shoulder, receiving no reply.

He stared at his new office a little while as he made his way over to his chair. Taking a seat, he looked around his desk.

"I painted," Wes chimed in, motioning to the walls.

Angel's eyes darted from his desk to Wesley. The vampire gave a semi-grateful nod.

In the awkward silence that followed, Wes cleared his throat. The ex-Watcher took a deep breath and began backing out of the room. "I'll just...erm catch up on some filing."

Upon leaving the room, Wesley shut the door behind him, leaving Angel by himself in the newly furnished room. Deep in thought, he moved a bit side to side. He paused at the motion.

_Tick...tick...tick_, the nearby clock kept on going in the silence, rarely accompanied by the shuffling of papers in the distance.

Angel's eyes darted to the door, past the threshold. Empty.

A faint smile crossed his lips as his hands gripped the arms of the chair. The tips of his feet pushed off roughly, sending the vampire spinning twice around before the chair slowed. As it came to a complete stop, Angel strained his neck to peer again out of the room and into the lobby.

Nothing. Just the barely noticeable sound of shuffling papers and that bothersome ticking.

His smile grew, only slightly, as his feet pushed off once again, this time a bit harder.

The vampire's stared wandered up to the ceiling as everything spun quickly around him in a whir. His eye slid shut and he let out a deep sigh.

Now this may have looked rather strange to an outsider. Actually for Cordelia, who now leaned idly in the threshold of the office, it _was_ strange. Strange, but _amusing_.

With the quite loud clearing of her throat, Angel's head snapped up and the chair came to an abrupt halt. Angel stared at the woman, shocked that he didn't hear her come in or even sense her watching him, but remained expressionless.

Cordy raised her arched eyebrows in mock surprise.

And there it was again in the awkward silence.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

_Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle._

"Cordelia, I-" he cut himself off. If he had a complexion, it would have probably given his reaction away even more. "It was just-"

"Uh huh," she replied with false-assurance, a smile beginning to break out on her face.

Trying to keep hold of his composer, he opened his mouth to speak again. "My foot slipped. And the chair...spun."

She nodded in a patronizing manner. "Of course."

_Tick._

_Shuffle._

"...it's a nice chair," Angel added with finality.

No longer holding back, she gave him a full-toothed smile. "You're welcome."

With that, she turned on her heel and strutted rather confidently past the front desk. Wesley raised his head momentarily only to see his co-workers bright smile. "What happened?"

She paused a second, turned to Wes and shrugged nonchalantly.

Ignoring the ex-Watcher's confused expression, she glanced back into the office for a split second to see the deeply shocked and solemn vampire no longer spinning.

"I just got **the best** thank you ever."

**FIN.**

_Cordy sits down in the big chair behind Angel's desk.  
Cordy spins the chair in circles: "Hey, look at me. I'm Angel!"  
Wesley: "He doesn't generally spin that much."_

_**-Season 2, "Guise Will Be Guise"**_


End file.
